KD7019 Advanced Embedded System and Technologies

Learning Outcomes assessed in this assessment

1.Knowledge & Understanding

(1)Critically analyse design specification requirements, for an embedded microcontroller application and choose appropriate microcontrollers and appropriate development tools in order to implement a specification.

(2)Develop suitable hardware for interfacing to microcontroller based systems and the co-requisite application software to satisfy system specifications

2.Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities ((UKSPEC SM2m, D1m, D7m, EP4m, EP10m, SM2fl, D1fl, EP1fl, EP3fl)

(1)Ability to design embedded software, interfacing hardware and select appropriate development tools to achieve a particular specification.

(2)Demonstrate a knowledge and awareness of the need to develop microelectronic systems, not only to satisfying specifications, but also the commercial and legal requirements of potential products.

3.Personal Values Attributes

(1)Ability to use CAD to design embedded systems satisfying both engineering and legal obligations.

An individual, word processed project report based on the embedded system project specified in this assessment specification needs to be completed.

A printed copy of the report should be submitted to the student central service and an electronic copy should be submitted via the online eLP (the blackboard)

Instructions to students:

This is an individual assignment. You are expected to follow the requirements in the assessment specification and must complete the codes development and project report. You will record your results and show the results in your report. You are also expected to take photos of the system you build up and the results of your tests, draw flowchart diagrams to explain the workflow and execution procedure of your program, draw diagrams to show the data collected in your test and results analysis, insert these photos/diagrams into the report to demonstrate your program and results.

You are required to produce a single report of not more than 40 pages.

IEEE numbered referencing

Academic Conduct:

You must adhere to the university regulations on academic conduct. Formal inquiry proceedings will be instigated if there is any suspicion of misconduct or plagiarism in your work. Refer to the University’s regulations on assessment if you are unclear as to the meaning of these terms. The latest copy is available on the university website.

Penalties for the late submission of coursework

If a student fails to meet the agreed assessment deadline, and has not been granted an extension of time, the work submitted will be regarded as not having been completed and a mark of zero will be awarded. The Examination Board will deem the student to have failed the module.

COURSEWORK BRIEF

This course work examines the student’s knowledge and skills of developing embedded programs for a ARM microprocessor by using the embedded C language, the concept of finite state machine (FSM), flowchart and the MBed tool chain. The skills of reading electronic schematics and using the schematics to achieve in-depth understanding of the hardware boards.

Your hardware platform is the NXP (also known as Freescale)  KL25Z development board (see Fig. 1) and the multi-function board (also known as shield)  ( see

The coursework involves two kinds of work:

(1)Project work (about 40 hours)

This is for hardware development, software development, build and test. The students are required to develop programs to read input values from switches, a touch pad, and take command strings from a PC via the UART and to display sequences on LEDs. The students are also required to develop a turnstile controller and integrate all these functions it into a single project.  

(2)Project report (about 10 hours)

An individual, word processed project report based on the embedded system project specified in this assessment specification needs to be completed and submitted.

 2. Content of the coursework and format guidelines

The report should contain an abstract, table of contents and at least the following chapters, namely (1). Introduction, (2) Overall System Design, (3) RGB LED control via UART, (4) Touch pad and travelling LEDs, (5) falling LED balls, (6) Turnstile gate controller, (7) Conclusion, related to these four functions.

Flowcharts and state machine charts should be used extensively, clearly representing and describing the overall software design and the main loop in the source file ‘main.cpp’.

Chapter (2) should contain clear explanation of the overall main function that integrates the four functions, along with clear flowcharts and program listings.

Chapters (3), (4), (5) and (6) should contain explanations of all software developed, with flowcharts and program listings. Results of tests should also be summarized and analysed in depth, including  evidence of testing, waveforms, results of testing, by using photos, screenshot, figures, diagrams as well as detailed explanation in text. The user interface (UART communication protocols, format of commands and returned information, definitions of each switch’s function) should also be illustrated and explained in related chapters.  

3. Overview of the project

The requirement of the project is for the individual student to develop C programs on the NXP (also known as Freescale) KL25Z hardware board and MBED software platform. The function of the programs will be to receive user command strings from a PC via UART, read user inputs from the switches, touch pad and onboard accelerometer and control LEDs.

The student is to develop an embedded program that implements the following functions:

·Function 1 (RGB LED control via UART): to turn the onboard RGB tricolor LED on and off by typing a command string at a PC’s terminal windows.  

·Function 2 (Touch pad and travelling LEDs): to turn one of the 4 LEDs on  the Multi-function shield on and make the illuminated LED travel along the LED board when a finger moves along the touch pad on the KL25Z board.

·Function 3 (a falling LED ball: a gravity accelerometer game): to turn on one of the 4 LEDs located on the EB004 LED board, and make the illuminated LED always move towards the earth (simulating the force of gravity) when tilting the KL25Z board.

·Function 4 (Turnstile gate controller): to control a (simulated) turnstile and with good user interface for better user experiences.